Header Right

Oven Baked Chicken Breast

You’ve never had oven baked chicken breast like this before. Super crunchy, juicy, full of flavor, and EASY to make, this is a MUST try recipe.

You may or may not already know that I can be something of … a recipe snob. My recipes do not involve things like “Ranch Packets”, Italian Salad Dressing marinades, or crumbled taco-flavored tortilla chips. I like to make food full of ingredients I can pronounce, and I will go ahead and tell you that although this holds true for this recipe, something about it does feel a little like those recipes I avoid because it’s just so EASY. Like I must be cheating or something.

But I also want to tell you about something else. About those days when you’ve worked way too many hours, come home well after dark to an inbox full of unanswered blog emails, and the only thing in the fridge is chicken breast that you decided three days earlier while planning your meals for the week would be something fabulous and gourmet, but now you just want to order Kung Pao Tofu from the local Chinese delivery place and hope you don’t fall asleep before the delivery guy gets to your house.

Starting with the basics

In lieu of eating something that would just make me feel worse, I decided to make one of my favorite hectic weeknight dinners: basic chicken breast with cous cous and green beans. Oh, except we’re out of olive oil. In 8 years of home ownership we have run out of toilet paper three times, but this was the first time we’d EVER run out of olive oil. Olive oil is apparently more standard in my house than toilet paper. And we were out.

Frantic to make boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a way one can only be if exhausted and hangry, I desperately hunted for an easy cooking alternative. Out of cooking oil. Out of butter. Out of eggs.

“Yeah, this is going to happen” — Mayonnaise

Then I saw it. Sitting there in its blue-lidded jar, staring back at me from the back of the fridge, previously forgotten, the mayonnaise seemed to be looking at me, mocking me, like, “Yeah, this is going to happen.” And so the Shame Chicken was born.

Everyone loves panko

I know that’s not the blog title of this recipe, but in my house, this “Oven Baked Chicken Breast” is lovingly called Shame Chicken. See, I am not an eater of mayonnaise. I don’t want it on a sandwich. I don’t want it in my food. There are a few exceptions, of course ( anything egg related and pimento cheese), but mayo is definitely not in our regular ingredient rotation. Neither, really, is breading. Nor “Cajun Seasoning”. I don’t even know why I had it in my pantry, but I threw it in the breading because I’d already put my last teaspoon of garlic powder in but wanted a bit more flavor. If you want to make this chicken for a certain cuisine, sub the cajun seasoning for something cuisine-specific ( like more garlic, chili powder, yellow curry, fine herbs, you name it! ) So, the Shame Chicken. A recipe using a method I feel the innate need to dislike, with ingredients I don’t even want to admit are in my kitchen, but a DIVINE crunchy texture, juicy meat, and effortless cooking method that all result in me making this recipe at least once a week every week since we made it that first time.

This was very good! I made this tonight, secretly since my husband hates mayo. He loved it… And never even knew it had mayo slathered on 🙂 He said it had to be one of the better “oven baked” chicken breast I have fixed! Thanks!

I am SO sorry I didn’t see this before now! I would not recommend making it the night before, as it will not keep it’s crispness. Maybe next time you could put the mayo on the night before, and then just add the breadcrumbs right before throwing it in the oven at the last minute!

I made this last night since I was short on time and delicious! Like Whitney said, my husband didn’t know what was on it but he actually gave it a “this is pretty good” which means it’s great cause he doesn’t normally comment unless he doesn’t like it! So definitely a keeper, thanks.

Made this for supper tonight. It was extremely moist. I pounded the chicken breasts so they were a little thinner. I also used Hot Hungarian Paparika since we like spicy meats. This recipe is A KEEPER FOR SURE.

I really like this and so did my husband who doesn’t like mayo, however when I stared to make this I realized I had no bread crumbs or panko so I crushed ritz crackers and took the salt out because the crackers have it on them already and it turned out fabulous!! My husband had no idea there was mayo on it! It was a hit!!

I’m going to try this tonight !!! And I am not telling my husband what I did to the chicken till he eats the whole meal lol I can’t wait to try it. I haven’t gotten a chance to go to the market so I am trying to find a delicious recipe with ingredients that I actually have and this fits every ingredient in my kitchen. I will post later how it goes 😊🤞

this may be a silly question, but will miracle whip work instead of mayo? Also, neither my husband or I eat mayo. In fact we both hate it. but I do have some miracle whip in the house for my son. I’m hoping we won’t really be able to taste that mayo flavor

I made this for dinner tonight. My husband and I both loved it. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have cooked anything hot with mayonnaise. I usually associate mayonnaise with salads and sandwiches. The thought of baking with breadcrumbs also made me a little reluctant; but, I’m glad I decided to broaden my palette and try this recipe. Thanks for sharing this!

Tried and LOVED IT!!!! Shame Chicken will definitely be added to our meal rotation!! I used Ritz crackers (1 of the fresh stack packs or about 13 crackers) as my bread crumbs though and didn’t add salt (because it was already on the crackers). Also tried it on boneless pork chops- same amount of ingredients for 4 of those. YUM!!! Shame Pork Chops? lol My boyfriend and I LOVE this recipe, Thanks for sharing!!

I would not recommend using only dijon mustard, as the mayo is what makes the chicken so tender ( and crispy ). However, you might be able to mix half mayo and half dijon without it drying out the chicken

WOW, this was so good. I was looking for something quick and easy and came across your recipe on Pinterest. I don’t keep mayo in the house and don’t eat it, but I did have sour cream so used that instead and used a little bit of taco seasoning because I didn’t have cajun!! Gotta love mixing it up. This was delicious and no SHAME in this CHICKEN … I’ll be making this again (and again, and again!!)

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Rate this recipe:

Primary Sidebar

Looking for something?

Search this website

Heyyyyyyy!

My name is Marianne, and I'm two parts food, one part booze, and a dash of snark. I live in Charleston, SC with my husband and two cats. My hobbies include being snobby about food, not-so-snobby about wine, and pretending like I've never been to a drive-through at 2 AM. Unless you've got a pic, I was never there! My personal motto: Champagne and stretchy pants. Sign up for my mailing list, or you might miss the show!